Thursday, August 20, 2009

Benji Radach of Longview, Washington, is an electrician by profession. However, he is better known as "The Razor" in the world of "extreme" sports or mixed martial arts (MMA). His style of fighting--Pankration--is a combination of kickboxing, judo, wrestling, and other martial arts. He has a record of 12 wins to only 3 losses.

On the afternoon of October 24, Radach, his training partner, Dennis Hallman, and their two girlfriends were having a peaceful dinner at Elmer's restaurant in Vancouver, Washington. Suddenly, an armed gunman entered the restaurant. As Radach told MMA Weekly: "We were just eating and this guy comes in and pulls a gun and sticks it into the clerk's face.... I took off my coat and ran over there towards the guy. He was looking the other way with the gun to his left as I'm approaching on the right. I grabbed the hand with the gun, twisted it in towards him so he couldn't shoot anybody and put him on his back and gave him a sock with my right hand, breaking his jaw, I think."

Hallman, who was delayed a moment getting out of his inner seat in the restaurant's booth, joined his partner, pinning the crook's arm behind his back and holding him until police arrived. The robber was brought to the Clark County Jail and faces a charge of first-degree robbery. Said Hallman: "[Benji's] a hero in my book and everybody else's book here today."

But Radach's father, Kim Radach, was a father first when commenting on his son's heroics: "I should be proud, but the things that goes through a parent's mind ... that guy could have turned around and [Benji] could have been bleeding or dead on the ground."